Yup, the Dredd trailers failed to show who Dredd was and what the film was about. I can't believe that the studio could have thought that the average American is really going to know who Judge Dredd is. Maybe some might have remembered the Stallone movie, but that wouldn't have helped matters either. It's a shame, I would have liked to see more Dredd movies like this one.

Revolver, the guys who completely screwed us over with their distribution strategy of Iron Sky in UK, just got awarded at Screen Awards for their ‘clever’ DVD marketing of Iron Sky. The award shows two things: the absolute disrespect for filmmakers and audience, and that the distribution industry is its’ own worst enemy. Here’s an article from Screen International.

I saw Dredd again, and enjoyed it just as much as the first time. Talking later with friends, it's only disappointment is that it's really set 22 years in the future, not 122. The gleeful nature of the violence is straight from the page, as is Dredd's stoicism and black humour. Any failure at the box office isn't for poor quality in the film itself. It's sad that there won't be any further films in this series; sequels could have built on this foundation and gotten further into the bizarre MC1 that we love.

Other than that, Looper was kind of underwhelming. I had the misfortune of going with two people who were exceedingly negative about it, putting me in a kind of a hostile Spin Room on the bus home from the cinema and dissolving what good feeling I had toward it. I think that it's fair to say that it's enjoyable while you watch it, but once subjected to in-depth thought it starts to flake away. Why did JGL wear ties the whole time? Why didn't they just send loopers to other loopers? Why did ... spoiler spoiler spoiler. It's an entertaining film, but there are too many holes in it to be really satisfying.

And tonight I watched the Fincher Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I've not read the books, but I have seen the Swedish original (cinema cut). That original I found disturbing to the point of being unwilling to watch this one. However, I'd seen Zodiac recently, and the parallels between that and GwtDT are pretty telling. I think Fincher learned from Zodiac how not to do an investigatory drama: it was extended and tedious, whereas this was long, but gripping. The cinematography was great, and I appreciated the greyed out palette. I was sceptical about Craig being anything other than Bond, and indeed when attempting to be schlubby and cardiganed he was fairly suave, but he made a good Blomqvist. I was also really sceptical about Rooney Mara playing the Noomi Rapace role, but she was brilliant. Controlled fury. A great performance. Dug the NIN references, too.

Excuse me while I have a long ramble on my way to giving my take on Dredd.

When I was about four and a half years old, for reasons I still can't quite work out, my parents took me to see Watership Down.Described on wikipedia as " a 1978 British animated horror movie ", I was, needless to say, completely traumatised by the end of the movie and had to be carried kicking and screaming out of the cinema, demanding that my parents changed the ending so that the hero did not die.It was the first time in my life that I became aware that my parents were not completely in control of reality and that there were some things that could not be changed.

Flash forward to 1995 as the credits rolled at the end of ninety minutes of Sylvester taking a steaming dump all over a world I had cherished for years, all I wanted was to stay there until somebody made that not to have just happened. Before I had to be dragged kicking and screaming out of the cinema, I recalled that sad day of my childhood and that some things could not be changed; I swallowed the bitter taste of disappointment , got up and got on with my life, another layer of cynicism added to the core..

This week I got to blast away that particular accretion of cynicism and what a pleasure it was to see done properly.Dredd played as he should be, just another day on the job for the city's toughest lawman. while I would have loved to see more of the city and wish we could see some sequels (super surf anyone?), if this is all we get, then for me it's enough to have laid those old ghosts to rest and I'm very happy.

Now if only they could remake Watership Down with a happy ending, everything would be right with the world.

Timo Vuorensola of Star Wreck and Iron Sky fame called me out of the blue today to come and open the second official theatre screening of Star Wreck in Finland. It was in this art house cinema, that shows a lot of weird and art stuff. Fuck me, it was weird. Seeing yourself and your pals, 10+ younger, on the silver screen in a cinema felt more or less like this.

I know these are not recent screenings but I rarely go to the cinema now (high prices, crap selection of films, dislike of sitting near other people who may potentially annoy me, can't pause film for toilet/food break) so here are some recent movies I waited until released on Blu-Ray. Hope you don't mind my slight thread derailing...:)

Cabin in the Woods. It was fun in a kind of post modern / satirical kind of way, but it was also like meh, really? REALLY? Bit of a let down actually. Best bits was any scene where someone was smoking weed.

Plan B's debut 'Ill Manors' was pretty good, especially for a 28 year old rapper. Stylish, the soundtrack used to advance plot was cool and original, however it was ultimately a bit 'typical British council-estate-gangster depressing' kind of thing.

I saw The Skin I Live In last week..Now that is a movie. Shocking, erotic, funny, original.

50/50: for a comedy about cancer it is really good.

THE RAID....(FULLY UNCUT VERSION) words do not exist to describe my love of this film. It may be the greatest action film I have ever seen. I saw it last night and am still in shock. It blew my mind with awesome and left me literally battered and bruised. I can't remember the last time I was watching a movie that made me cry out "Ouch! Wow! Woah, Holy shit! No way!" since I was 12 years old. Seriously, I'm not sure if this is me just bigging it up too much but I will be buying that and watching again ASAP. How the hell a 30 year old Welshman ended up making this I have no idea.

In this case I will not be pressing charges because I feel that if after watching an action film I am wincing in pain, it was a successful achievement from all concerned (especially the director/actors).

I am however, seriously considering suing the makers of the film Taken for what I can only describe as inflicting an horrific emotional and intellectual violation upon myself. Some people I know said it was brilliant, popular consensus seemed to suggest it was an original exciting action movie, the truth is that it may be the worst film ever made. There is no action in it. Maybe a car crashed into something? An episode of Spongebob Squarepants made more coherent sense. The audacity of the stupid main character to fly from America and infiltrate an Albanian people smuggling network in France within 8 hours with no grasp of French or Albanian only the ability to throat punch people....God I fucking hated that film so much. A feeling intensified by its popularity and sequel...Suprisingly I know lots of women who love it too. They adore the strong protective father figure character...

I watched my birthday-present copy of Moonrise Kingdom on Friday. The newspaper and magazine are worth freeze-framing on.

I really like the soundtrack. Didn't fully appreciate it in the theater.

I'm not sure how my nieces (14-16) would react. If it weren't for a brief mention of a hard-on it would be totally tween-friendly, but on the other hand, the subtlety of it might whiz right over their heads.